The Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) has lauded the government’s Free Senior High School education programme, but stressed quality must not be compromised.
The Free SHS policy has taken care of tuition fees and other related educational materials for the current first year students at public second cycle schools.
CADA avers Free SHS can assure the nation of a better tomorrow as well as maximize students’ academic potentials.
“CADA is of a firm belief that intelligence and talent are not the forte of the wealthy alone. There is a lot of untapped and undiscovered talent and intelligence lying covered under impoverishment and destitution in the country’s rural areas.
“Free education opens the doors of opportunities to these talented people. Through free education, Ghana can ensure that the talented and intelligent of her citizens can gain the assurance of a better tomorrow through maximizing their academic potentials,” CADA said in a statement.
It added: “Free education would be beneficial to those who deserve it, as well as, to the society as a whole. Where everybody is talking about equal and better opportunities, the prospects of a better future should not be lost due to lack of equal opportunities for education.
“However, in the opinion of CADA, education in Ghana should not just be made free but every effort should be made to improve the quality of the prevailing educational system relevant to the country’s developmental agenda. CADA believes that the ongoing efforts to make education free in Ghana will be meaningless unless it is linked up to the total quality and accessibility to all qualified pupils and students irrespective of where they are located in the country so at the end of the day graduates at all levels of the country’s educational cycle can open up the doors that lead to employment and provide better quality of life for all Ghanaians.”
Below is the full statement:
The Centre for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) has been following the debate presently going on over the introduction of free education for all Senior High School students in Ghana by the government and is sufficiently moved to release this press statement to commend government on this proactive and bold initiative taken.
It is said that knowledge is power and CADA believes that this power helps to live a decent life, earn a decent income as well as brings respect and dignity. In the opinion of CADA, when knowledge can bestow the power for so many things, why should it be restricted to a few who have the advantage of wealth? Knowledge needs to be free for all those who deserve it, and what Ghanaians deserve should be decided by an individual’s capability and intelligence and not by wealth. CADA is of a firm belief that one of the best and simplest ways to disseminate knowledge to all Ghanaians, is through free education. Making education free at least from the primary to the Senior High School levels would benefit the Ghanaian society.
CADA is of the view that Ghana’s society is more becoming divided by wealth than by any other criteria. There is the unbelievably rich few, the very rich, the middle income group, the poor, and those in utter poverty. And amidst all these are impoverishment, unemployment, and destitution. How can anyone think of spending money on education, when they do not have money for food and shelter? However, we all agree that education is the remedy for all these ills that plague our society. Education is the only means that can open up the doors that lead to employment, and through it food, shelter and better quality of life. Therefore, CADA believes that providing free education to the deserving Ghanaians will ensure that at least the future generation can step through these doors to a better living. CADA has observed that providing free education would come as a great relief.
CADA believes that providing free education would enable Ghanaian students to concentrate on learning and gaining more through the education, instead of struggling with the payment of tuition fees and meeting other expenses and when the focus shifts to learning it leads to empowerment of the youth to work towards an increasingly intellectual society.
Free education, in the opinion of CADA, would lead to more educated people. More educated people in the society leads to overall improvement in the quality of life in the society. Through better employment and elimination of the struggle for basic needs, Ghanaians would concentrate on the higher aspects of life, such as improving administration and management of issues that impact the society in general. Therefore free education would have a very positive impact on the overall quality and thinking in the society.
In the view of CADA, more educated Ghanaians would mean better governance from the grassroots to the national level. Educated Ghanaians would make better choices in electing their representatives and are better equipped to question corruption and misuse of power. Therefore, education is not only the remedy for the ills of unequal wealth, but also the remedy for the ills that plague our administration and governments. By making education free, we prod our society towards the path of better governance.
CADA is of a firm belief that intelligence and talent are not the forte of the wealthy alone. There is a lot of untapped and undiscovered talent and intelligence lying covered under impoverishment and destitution in the country’s rural areas. Free education opens the doors of opportunities to these talented people. Through free education, Ghana can ensure that the talented and intelligent of her citizens can gain the assurance of a better tomorrow through maximizing their academic potentials.
Free education would be beneficial to those who deserve it, as well as, to the society as a whole. Where everybody is talking about equal and better opportunities, the prospects of a better future should not be lost due to lack of equal opportunities for education.
However, in the opinion of CADA, education in Ghana should not just be made free but every effort should be made to improve the quality of the prevailing educational system relevant to the country’s developmental agenda. CADA believes that the ongoing efforts to make education free in Ghana will be meaningless unless it is linked up to the total quality and accessibility to all qualified pupils and students irrespective of where they are located in the country so at the end of the day graduates at all levels of the country’s educational cycle can open up the doors that lead to employment and provide better quality of life for all Ghanaians. CADA hopes that beside the ongoing free education project, government’s attention will also be drawn to ensuring quality education and provision of educational infrastructure at the community level for all school going children in the country to have access to school.
In addition to the provision of basic infrastructure and facilities, the service conditions of the teachers who will be imparting knowledge must be improved to motivate them so as to create a congenial teaching and learning environment.
Frank Adarkwah-Yiadom
Executive Director, CADA
